The New T-List

Happy Hotelier has resurrected and refined the new T-List, a list of travel websites and bloggers. He’s organized and ranked 300 travel sites (wow!) by Technorati ranking. I was stunned to see this blog at #39!

I am elated and very surprised! My blog is up there with the biggies like The Lost Girls, The Cranky Flier, NewYorkology, and Uptake (formerly Kango). I’m flipping with glee!

The T-List first appeared over a year ago. It was an effort to network the great travel blogs and websites, to generate interest and importance. Happy Hotelier, a Dutchman who runs a terrific travl blog himself, has put enormous effort into maintaining the ranks. Kudos to you, HH!

Favorite Travel Blogs

I was asked by an up-and-coming SEO company (see Kango Blog for more) to give some recommendations of my favorite travel bloggers. It was hard to whittle down my favorites, but I will try.

Adirondack Base Camp
I love this blog. It has been said that the Adirondacks are “the world’s Central Park,” but I do not think the Adirondack Forest is promoted enough. TourPro is one of these exceptions, however. He works in the Adirondack tourist industry, and sheds a lot of light on the marketing aspect of New York State tourism. I enjoy his colorful posts, and I gain a lot of information about the biggest tourist attraction in the state.

Brave New Traveler
This is an enjoyable conglomerate of travel bloggers, all offering their own distinctive narratives and articles. The content is never dull, and there’s a lot of variety on this blog.

A Long Ride
This blog is updated irregularly, whenever the author takes to the road. But when he does, his photos and stories are riveting. It makes me wish he’d dump his job and just ride the open road permanently. This is one of the blogs that got me going on my own travel blog. Love this one!

Family Travel
Incredibly diverse and jam-packed with loads of lists, links, and armchair travel destinations. It’s family-friendly, to boot! I am glad to see the popularity of the “Lone Stranger” traveler wane, and the “Brady Bunch” traveler rise. Good content.

Happy Hotelier
This blogger is undying in his promotion of all travel bloggers. I appreciate his loyalty and devotion. His content is fresh and I enjoy learning more about tourism in Europe. I’ve found many other blogger gems from his posts, too.

New York City Walk
A wonderful narrative of a young man who traveled up each and every street in Manhattan, taking pictures, noting the notables, and having fun every step of the way. I’m so glad he shares his journey.

Marriott On the Move
I’m not much for corporate travel, but the content is interesting, and I am curious about what goes on behind the scenes at one of the largest hotel chains in America. I had the pleasure of staying at a Marriott suite last year, and enjoyed it. I love to see executives promote customer service. If Marriott wants to continue to be successful, customer service is the way to go. They encourage input from other bloggers, too.

These are my recommendations! I hope they prove useful to other bloggers and travelers alike. If you are looking for more of my recommended travel blogs, check out my post at my other blog, rel=”nofollow” New York Traveler.

Interesting Places to Visit and Not to Visit

Well, well. January 1st, 2008. Amazing.

Lots of people seem to be still on vacation (or going). Here in Upstate New York, right after Christmas is when the snowbirds leave for Florida or some other southern state.

I’m not going anywhere (not yet). But I was browsing through some travel websites and blogs, and found some great resources. Rather than tuck them in my bookmarks, I’ll share them so you can get some use out of them, too.

Going to Manhattan? The food is excellent, and such a variety! Here’s a handy-dandy website showing 6,440 menus from Manhattan restaurants: MenuPages. The Empire State Building has it’s own official site. And NewYorkology, one of my favorite New York travel blogs, always has lively listings of things to do.

Traveling with kids and don’t know what to do? TravelHacker has a list of free games for kids to play during long car or plane trips. The main website has some good ideas for airline travel, too. Same goes for Family Travel.
If you are like me, and staying home for the winter, you can check out some new places I’ve been enjoying. Test your geography skills with a very fun TravelerIQ quiz.

Armchair traveler? I am. Right now I’m perusing The Fleming Family Global Adventure (traveling around the world with a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old?!), and Travel Diaries (nice and organized, a pleasure to read).

My young son is doing a report on Scotland, one of my favorite countries (aye, the clan!). We’ve been enjoying Travel Around Scotland. Yes, I hope we do someday.

There’s the “mainstream media” travel pages, at New York Times and CNN. They aren’t too bad, just a tad sensational. The photos are always so enjoyable.

The special thing about travel is you can do it literally and do it virtually. With the Internet, virtual travel is that much easier. Happy trails!

Search Me!

I am thrilled with my Kango Travel Blog search widget. see it in my sidebar? Go ahead, try it! Try a search for “New York blogs” and see what you get!

Thanks, Kango dudes! This is an excellent resource, and count on me to spread the word!